IN LATE 2012, just before the release of “House of Cards”, Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix, declared: “The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us”. Few took him seriously. HBO had a globally recognised brand with some of the best programmes in television, including “Game of Thrones”.

IN LATE 2012, just before the release of “House of Cards”, Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix, declared: “The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us”. Few took him seriously. HBO had a globally recognised brand with some of the best programmes in television, including “Game of Thrones”.